Ooredoo sees strong results from rebranding

Doha, October 23, 2013

Six months on from the beginning of its global brand transformation process, Ooredoo continues to build on its promise to take its business to another level, said Group CEO Dr Nasser Marafih.

In February 2013, Ooredoo had launched its new brand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

An Arabic word that means “I want,” Ooredoo set itself the target of inspiring people and supporting its customers’ dreams and aspirations.

Since then, Ooredoo has started the roll-out of the new brand across its footprint, aiming to adopt the new brand globally throughout 2013 and 2014.

The home market of Qatar was the first operation to become Ooredoo in March 2013. This has been followed by the Tunisian operation’s first use of the combined brand – as “Tunisiana Ooredoo” – in September 2013.

Ooredoo’s re-branding work focused on human growth has seen the company launch a range of sustainable initiatives designed to support people across the communities it serves.

Speaking at the GSMA Mobile 360 Conference in Dubai, Dr Marafih said: "As part of the transformation into Ooredoo and our vision to enrich people’s lives, we’ve concentrated on four key aspects: enabling youth, championing women, empowering underserved communities, and catalysing entrepreneurs and small businesses."

"Since February, we have launched life-changing initiatives to improve lives through mobile technology, and to put our brand promise into action," he stated.

One area where Ooredoo is reaching out to underserved communities is in the field of mobile finance. Recognising the potential social and economic benefit of providing the un-banked with basic financial services via mobile, Ooredoo has focused on underserved communities across its footprint.

From expatriate workers in Qatar through to people in rural Indonesian communities, where more than 600,000 customers are now sending money through Ooredoo services, with Ooredoo Mobile Money (Qatar), mobiflouss(Tunisia), and Dompetku(Indonesia), said the top official.

Working to empower women, Ooredoo has leveraged mobile technology to enrich lives and enhance inclusion throughout 2013. Most recently, the company announced a new partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women to extend the benefits of mobile technology to underserved communities and support women’s entrepreneurship in Myanmar.

They are developing a franchisee model to enable 30,000 women to become entrepreneursby 2016, by selling prepaid Ooredoo airtime in their communities.

Encouraging healthy living and reaching underserved communities, Ooredoo is rolling-out mobile health clinics to reach two million children by 2016, in partnership with global brand ambassador and football star Lionel Messi and his Leo Messi Foundation.

Using the popularity of football, Ooredoo is launching a group-wide community football coaching programme with football clinics for youth, as part of the recently-announced sponsorship of French football team Paris Saint-Germain.

On the technology side, Ooredoo’s companies are connecting millions of people to the fastest-possible mobile networks. Ooredoo has launched ultrafast 4G LTE mobile broadband networks in Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait, and is conducting trialsin the Maldives, said Dr Marafih.

“So far 2013 has been a remarkable year of transformation and growth for Ooredoo, and we are committed to rolling out further the benefits of our evolution with our customers.We are not a technology or a telecom brand, but a community-focused brand that is committed to enriching people’s lives,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service